CROSSLAKE
— The Crosslake City Council discussed a consulting report by Michelle Soldo at a special meeting Friday, Dec. 29.
Soldo, of Soldo Consulting P.C., was hired by the city to assess city operations and relationships among staff and council members and presented her findings at the council’s Nov. 13 regular meeting.
The report found that, through examining past council meetings and interviewing council members and staff, there are internal conflicts between council and staff and issues impacting city governance. The report recommended training by the League of Minnesota Cities to remedy the outlined issues.
However, according to council members and staff, the report contained misinformation, and copies of the report they were given had significant portions redacted.
Council member Jackson Purfeerst said that he thought the report was not taking into account all the information presented through the interviews.
“I thought the report, as I told Michelle off the bat, was not accurate and representing most (of the) information,” Purfeerst said.
Council member Aaron Herzog agreed and said that the report failed to evenly account for all viewpoints.
I think the information is going to come out that that report was based on a very small number of people that spoke with her, and I think it’s going to be completely biased in that respect. When three of the council members are not represented in a report, that tells you that the report is not valid.
Aaron Herzog
“I’m frustrated with it. There’s blatant misinformation that came out from it that are lies and misinformation 100%, which taint the entire report,” Herzog said.
“I think the information is going to come out that that report was based on a very small number of people that spoke with her, and I think it’s going to be completely biased in that respect. When three of the council members are not represented in a report, that tells you that the report is not valid,” he said.
City Clerk Char Nelson said that while one of the report’s goals was public transparency, the amount of redactions in the report defeated that purpose.
“Number two on the assessment says that there was a three-fold objective to doing this and (part C) under that is public transparency. There are pages of this report that are redacted. How are we supposed to improve ourselves when we can’t even read it? This cannot be all confidential information,” Nelson said.
The council agreed that training by the League of Minnesota Cities for council members and staff is still needed to address ongoing issues.
The council voted 4-0 to receive an unredacted version of the report to city staff and council members. Council member Marcia Seibert-Volz had to leave the meeting early.
In other action Friday, the council:
- Approved changes to time-off benefits for a new public works hire.
- Approved the hiring of a new police officer at an accelerated pay grade.
- Approved a full-time salary for Crosslake Fire Chief Chip Lohmiller at $84,000 per year plus benefits.
The council also discussed setting aside time at a later council meeting to review city staff evaluations and to conduct an evaluation for City Administrator Mike Lyonais.
Council member Sandy Farder attended the meeting remotely.
Find recordings of Crosslake City Council meetings on the city’s YouTube channel.
Tom Fraki, staff writer, may be reached at 218-855-5863 or tom.fraki@pineandlakes.com.
